


A Peculiar Gift

by Bagel_the_Dalek



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Adventure, Cute, Dalek - Freeform, Friendship, Heartwarming, Human, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-28
Updated: 2018-09-28
Packaged: 2019-07-18 13:02:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16119020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bagel_the_Dalek/pseuds/Bagel_the_Dalek
Summary: Allie's life takes a strange turn after receiving a peculiar gift. It moves, it talks, and it follows her around. Rather does she know that it isn't just a small toy her parents brought her, but something much more alien.





	1. A Gift

Water rushed past the forest trees, crashing against rocks and branches through the winding river. It raced toward dips and waterfalls to eventually plummet down into a large pond below. Creating a blanket of falling water, it crashed and then rippled out into a calm flow around the reservoir. This pond was the embodiment of peaceful, the sort of which might be found within a children's fairytale book, or a whimsical movie. It happened to be neither. The pool was in fact a man made body built for the use of a large campground resort. Nothing natural, though most would never be able to tell.

A few tents sat scattered nearby, empty whilst their guests were out fishing or hiking. A lone deer was scavenging through the contents of a packed lunch left unprotected by an unwitting couple. Its tail twitched in what could have been delight as it chewed on the remains of a slice of bread slathered with a thick layer of peanut butter. Suddenly it dropped its meal, raising its head to listen, ears perked. A twig cracked, a leaf crunched, and then a creature emerged from the brush.

Small, plush and blue, it began to hover just above the forest floor, approaching the deer with a bright yellow light radiating from what could have been an eye. The animal stood for but a moment more before leaping off and away from the unusual sight. The floating creature watched it go before erratically hovering over to the fallen scraps of food scattered across the forest floor. It did not have a distinguishable mouth, nor any need to eat, yet it poked at them with a small stalk tipped with a round gripper. It moved them about, analyzing them before finding a cooler the deer had tipped. The strange little being entered it curiously, shoving aside food and drink after a thorough poking.

After picking up a tin can with its suction cup arm, the plush creature began to back out of the bag, then froze. The sound of footsteps on the forest floor approached the campsite. Along with it came the voices of two bickering campers. The being stayed very still and listened.

"I told you you would forget it! You should have let me take it!" Came a woman's voice. She sounded matter-of-fact, her tone stern.

"Well I didn't want you to go spoiling the surprise! You're no good at keeping secrets! All it would take is one call and you'd be blabbing all about it!"

"Better than not having it at all!" The woman retorted.

The footsteps stopped. There was a gasp of anger and disbelief.

"The lunch! It's ruined!" Yelled the woman. She leaned down on her knees to inspect the carnage. "Some animal got into it. You should have kept it in the tent. Another thing you've forgotten, Donny."

"Well, excuse me! I remembered to prepare it, didn't I?"

"Well, that's not worth much when it's been ruined, now is it? Oh!" The woman gave an utterance of surpise as she opened the cooler. "The rest is here! And... oh Donny you didn't forget it after all!"

"Huh? I didn't?" Donny came to stand next to her, peering inside the cooler bag. His eyes went wide for a moment, then he regained composure. "Oh uh, yes. I didn't! Not at all! See Julie? No need to worry now."

"So what is it?" The woman asked, plucking up the strange toy from the cooler bag. She pulled the tin can from its sucker arm and dropped it back into the bag.

"Oh just one of her um, things. The strange monsters she likes! I thought it might resemble something similar so I went ahead and bought it." He smiled, hoping that the lie would be believable enough.

"You did a great job, Donny." Julie spoke with a smile, "But there is something you still forgot."

"Oh? What?"

"It's not wrapped." Julie shook the toy in her hand, "We'll have to leave the campground early and get some paper at the store. We don't want to meet Allie with an unwrapped gift."

"Right." Donny scratched his head nervously. At least he'd gotten away with this one. "Not much like camping when we're going out to stores."

"Well, we didn't come here merely to camp, dear. That part was your idea, remember? This was for your daughter."

The toy did not move as the humans carried it along with them through the woods, their path taking them to a parking lot which broke the natural scenery. Its eye-stalk watched the cardboard bear planted near the front office as it was placed into the back of a car, the cooler bag with the remains of its nourishment settled nearby.

It listened as the engine erupted into a growl and peered upward out the window above. The yellow light that radiated from its eye dimmed and illuminated. "Exterminate!" It vocalized, it's voice drowned out by the roaring motor.

+++

Allie sat at the diner booth, twirling her spoon on the place-mat like a compass arrow. Her eyes were unfocused, gazing passed the table, the chair, even the building's interior itself into an abyss of thought. She had been here a while, just twirling her spoon and gazing off into space as the waitress came now and then to see if the other two patrons she'd be waiting on had arrived.

"Still waiting hun?" The woman asked gently, hoping not to startle the girl. Her low voice didn't have the effect she had wanted. Allie jerked back to reality with a shudder and looked over, trying to cover it up with a smile.

"Not yet. They texted a minute ago. They'll be here in a- oh, there they are." She pointed out the window at a blue convertable, practically ancient in its design. Despite its early model, it had been recently treated to a fresh lick of paint, as if it had just come off the assembly line.

The waitress waited at the table and watched the couple walk to the door, entering with a small box wrapped in star print paper. "Hey Allie!" One of them, a man in his late fifties greeted. The woman, of similar age, repeated him soon after, though in a more formal manner.

"Hey mom, hey dad." Allie responded, "Traffic?"

"No, your father and I were trying to get your gift wrapped." Julie said with a roll of her eyes. She placed the box down and looked at the waitress, "I'll have a coffee please, no cream and light on the sugar. And he'll have one too, sweetened as much as you possibly could and drenched in milk."

Donny shrugged, "She knows me well."

They sat down and the waitress nodded, leaving them with with their daughter. Allie looked at the box. "You didn't have to bring me anything."

"Yes we did! This is the last time we can see you before your birthday. It's an early gift," Donny told her. He had a wide smile. "I say you open it now before your mother blabs anymore."

"I don't blab!" Julie contested.

"Well you told her why we were late. Now she knows it was freshly wrapped!"

"Alright, cut it out before you kill eachother," Allie shook her head. She pulled the gift close and began to peel the paper away. "Huh, so you got me a cardboard box. I could use that to hold my art supplies." Her joke provoked a chuckle from her father. Soon she had all the paper off of the box and was prying the flaps open.

Allie peered inside, then lifted out a blue plush. It was oddly shaped, with a dome head on which two plastic funnels protruded like ears and what looked to be an eye jutted out from a long stalk. Beneath it, two other stalks reached out from its body. One was tipped with a plunger shaped implement, and the other an egg beater looking object. The plunger, or sucker as she wanted to call it was one of the only pieces that wasn't made of fabric, along with the lens of the eye and the strange plastic of its funnel-like ears.

"What is it?" Allie asked. As she did so, the eye began to glow and the head swiveled. It looked at her, returning her gaze. She tilted her head.

Donny spoke up first, "Oh it's one of those new toys! The mechanical ones with the eye trackers and what not! Oh, what do you call them?" He lied, hoping his second attempt would be as successful as the first.

"I can look it up on my phone-" Allie began, but was cut off by the shrill voice of the toy.

"I am a Da-lek!" It said quite loudly, its funnels and eye-stalk blinking at every syllable. A few of the other patrons looked over at the trio and their strange toy.

"A Dalek huh?" Allie said. "Wow, he's adorable! I love him!"

"As per usual, the uglier it is, the cuter you find it." Julie said, "That would be our daughter."

"Now, you need a name." Allie told the plush. Her eyes wandered to some of the objects on the table as she thought. The toy's eyestalk followed her gaze. Her eyes went from the napkin holder, to the silverware, then to the bagel she'd ordered while her parents had been en route to the diner. She smiled, "Bagel. Your name is Bagel."

"Ba-gel." The toy repeated her. "My name is Ba-gel."

"Well would you look at that!" Donny exclaimed, "It's even better than I thought! This should solve the whole loneliness problem!"

Julie was not so enthusiastic, "That thing isn't connected to the internet is it? I've heard of devices stealing information nowadays. If that toy listens, what else can it do?"

Donny laughed, "Oh it's fine. Can't be any worse than the lady in our phones, can it?"

"Well, where did you get him?" Allie asked.

Her father gained a small look of concern on his face for a moment, as if wishing to say something important, but the look of happiness on his daughter's face and the threat of rage from his wife if she were to know the truth caused him to swallow his suspicion. He smiled, "The tech store you always went to back home." Another lie.

"Thanks guys. I love him! He'll definitely be good company in the dorm room!" Allie hugged it to her chest. It twitched a bit, then looked up at her.

"We're glad." Julie nodded, reassured by her husband. "Now we'll be fishing at our campground after this. Your father has been dying to do that, and there's a beautiful pond right near our tent. I think it would be nice if you came along. Do you have class in the morning?"

"Not until two." Allie said, the toy still held under her chin, "I can make it I think. And you can bet I'm bringing Bagel along."

"I swear, you'll treat anything that moves like its a pet. Remember that you're an adult now." Julie sighed, but smiled all the while.

"There are people that have robot dogs nowadays mom," Allie told her, "But I have a feeling that Bagel is going to be a lot more exciting than those ever would." She held the toy out and looked into that yellow glowing eye again. It stared right back at her, in an unblinking and unbreaking gaze.

To be continued...


	2. The Waterfall

Bagel was settled in the grass, watching the humans as they cast their line into the water. Donny was watching the bob patiently while Julie read a book, leaning back on her cushioned beach chair. Bagel didn't understand this activity. There was no use for it in his opinion. The humans were not eating any of the fish they caught, just throwing them back and then waiting to capture another on their tiny hook. It made no logical sense. He looked at Allie who was kicking up dirt. She looked just as disinterested as he was.

Allie glanced over at Bagel as she realized she was being watched. She met his gaze before looking back at her parents. "Hey guys, I'm gonna go explore the campground if that's alright." She said, picking him up.

"Go for it. I honestly don't blame you, dear." Julie shrugged before returning to her book.

"Awesome." Allie smiled. Bagel gazed up at her again. He wasn't supposed to feel emotion, but he was definitely glad to go anywhere other than here. True, he could have wandered off on his own, but the humans were of use to him he'd concluded. They would have a much larger supply of metal and scrap than anyone in this forest.

Allie began to walk, intent on heading off into the woods. As she did, Bagel's eyestalk trained itself on the waterfall, cascading into the pond.

"What's up Bagel?" Allie's voice caught his attention. He noticed that she had halted her movement. Her eyes were now gazing at the falls as well. "It's beautiful isn't it?"

"Da-leks have no con-cept of beau-ty." Bagel answered her in his droning, robotic voice.

"Why not?" She asked curiously.

Bagel didn't answer this time. He looked back at the waterfall. Since he'd first arrived at the campground weeks ago, something about it had always transfixed him, though he couldn't quite tell what it was. He had always hidden behind it though. It was where he had taken to building his project, away from prying eyes. That was, before he'd been found in that cooler bag.

"Hey Bagel. How much do you bet there's some secret entrance back there, you know like in those movies."

"I know of no mo-vies." He answered, his nerves rising. Allie placed him gently onto the ground.

Julie looked up from her book at the two. A tone of authority entered her voice, "Oh don't go in there Allie! You didn't pack a bathing suit!"

Bagel watched as Allie strode into the water, ignoring her mother's orders. At first he was going to stay back on the shore, but his cavern and the project within it were both hidden in Allie's destination.

He began to hover over the ground then the water, following Allie atop the rippling pond. She waded in toward the waterfall, and ducked into the blanket of falling liquid. Bagel floated through it after her. Around him, a bubble of energy had formed, keeping him dry beneath the barrage of water.

Allie had been staring into the cave ahead when the Dalek had arrived. She jerked in surprise, "Bagel? How did you get here? Wait, you're floating!" She exclaimed, "How are you doing that?"

Bagel looked down at the water beneath him. He wasn't sure what to say. He felt now that he definitely should have stayed back. He turned his glowing eye to Allie, attempting to think of a response. "One of my ma-ny fun-ctions." He said.

"Functions, huh?" There was a bit of doubt in her voice, but then Allie shrugged, seemingly letting it go. "You know, you're one amazing toy Bagel." She stepped into the cave and Bagel floated up for her to carry him once more.

The cavern wasn't too deep, but it was shrouded in an inky darkness that no human eye could have pierced alone. Dust and cobwebs had overtaken it, and a few small scuttling bugs scattered this way and that.

Allie pulled her phone from a pocket on her shorts. "Waterproof case." She smiled, showing Bagel.

"This is un-safe. We should go back." He pleeded, hoping she would go no further.

"It'll be fine, buddy." She turned on the phone's flashlight and looked around, illuminating the area before her. "Woah! Look at this!" She called out.

If Bagel had teeth, he would have clenched them. Within the darkness stood his project, a spherical metallic object held up by tripodial legs. It looked almost spider like with several circular 'eyes' present on its orb-like head.

"Kinda looks like an alien spaceship, but tiny." Allie commented. She examined it closely. Bagel watched her, knowing full well what it was but refusing to speak his secret aloud. The tower, as he called it, was meant to send out a signal on a frequency only a Dalek could pick up, summoning his kind.

"I guess it's some art installation, hidden here for someone to well, eventually come find." Allie speculated

Bagel was relieved by her conclusion. He calmed a bit and looked up at her once more, formulating a response. "Most like-ly."

"It's amazing." She snapped a picture of it, stared at the photo for a moment then sat down on the rough floor of the cavern. "I wasn't expecting anything back here. It's kind of cool."

Bagel felt an inkling of curiosity hit him at the word. He glanced first at the tower, then back at her. "Cool. What is cool?"

Allie thought for a moment, "I guess when you like something? Or it's more than decent? ...It's when something pleases you and also has a manner to it that's aesthetically pleasing."

"I un-der-stand." Bagel nodded his eyestalk. "It is cool."

"Now, while we're back here, I gotta ask. Um, you said you were a Dalek right? Got a story? I mean most toys have a backstory. Like those robot owls that came from an island or whatever."

"Sto-ry." Bagel turned away, thinking. Could he even speak of that? Perhaps. All of the feelings that had been bottled up since his death, the emotion he'd never been able to feel before; she'd just believe it to be some fictional backstory, wouldn't she? It was the perfect pass to let it out, and yet he still hesitated.

"Well?" Allie asked curiously, waiting for a response.

"...The Da-leks are sol-diers. I have fought in ma-ny bat-tles." He began, formulating each sentance before he spoke, "I ex-ter-mi-na-ted ma-ny. I de-stroyed so much. Then I died."

Allie leaned in, interest sparkling in her eyes, "You died? How? What happened?"

"The Doc-tor." Bagel droned, his tone almost a little more solemn now. "The grea-test e-ne-my of the Da-leks. He de-stroyed our ship. I was killed."

Allie gaped, "Woah, that's pretty brutal for a toy. Speaking of which, how'd you end up like this? Did they program you with a reason for that too?" Allie asked.

Bagel thought back to his death that day. The memory was seared into his mind. He could feel the pain as if he were still there. It seemed to last for hours, that agony, and the there was only space and peace. Stars, cosmos, time and eternity itself passed him. He had seen it all in that short moment. Without even thinking, he began to speak again, "My con-scious-ness left my bo-dy and I wan-dered the u-ni-verse. Then... I was drawn to Earth. I found this bo-dy and then you named me Ba-gel."

Allie blinked silently for a while. She opened her mouth as if to say something, then closed it again. Eventually she managed to speak, "You have a lot of baggage don't you. Even if you are just a toy."

"I su-ppose so." Bagel stared at the water licking at the shore of the cavern.

"If it makes you feel any better, I won't let anything bad happen to you. We may have just met, but I want to be pals. You don't have to worry about war or death or floating around a universe here, even if it is fictional. I mean, if you still want to room with me. Maybe it's just me, but you seem to have a mind of your own."

Bagel turned his attention back up to her, "Yes. I would still like to room with you, A-llie."

"Well, that means a lot. I think we'll be good friends. And I know someone you'll just love to meet!"

"Allie! Allie are you okay? Get out of there!" The sound of Julie's voice cut through the entrance of falling water.

Allie pulled Bagel closer and got to her feet. "Looks like it's time to go." She sighed, "Let's keep this place to ourselves alright?"

"A-greed." Bagel nodded his eye-stalk as they began to leave, wading through the water to exit their new hiding spot.


End file.
